SINGAPORE: Final-year polytechnic student Shintaro Tay was introduced to energy drinks one and a half years ago. He typically drank them when he had to stay up through the night to complete assignments. At one point, he drank about five cans of energy drinks a night.
"I just kept on drinking it to stay awake because I really needed to finish the assignment," he said. "Basically everything was all right at first, then when I submitted my assignment, and I breathed in, I felt a bit of an ache.
"And I realised that I had difficulty in breathing. At first I thought I had a heart attack, but it wasn't one. I just had difficulty walking around and it felt like my heart was aching a lot."
That prompted him to cut his intake to one or two cans per month. But he believes the easy availability of these drinks and their aggressive promotion in tertiary institutions has influenced many of his friends. He thinks there should be regulations on how these drinks are promoted.
"Sometimes, it's promoted as a very fun drink, something that is very cool. Especially amongst some of my friends, some of the younger ones, they only drink it because they think it is cool. I wouldn't recommend that."
Ms Margaret Gan, who is a mother of two grown-up children, agreed. "Many of these young people are not aware of the risks. To them, it is just another drink. And I believe their parents are also not aware because I have seen parents buying them for these youngsters.
"These young people and their parents need to be educated. Information is important - there should be more publicity, more information about these drinks. Perhaps labels on these drinks to warn them."
Caffeine is not the only danger in such drinks. Dietitians are also concerned about the large amount of sugar in these drinks. Mount Alvernia Hospital dietician Janice Chong estimates there could be as much as 10 teaspoons of sugar in a can.
She cautioned that excessive consumption of such drinks could lead to a higher risk of developing chronic diseases like diabetes and result in excessive weight gain.
"It would be good if some sort of caution message is on the food label to advise the public to limit the intake of such drinks," she said. "And I think it would also be great if the food manufacturers can include not only the sugar content, but also the caffeine content in the food labels of these products."
There were 13 different types of energy drinks on sale at a supermarket when 938LIVE visited. The caffeine and sugar content were clearly labelled on most of them. For example, a 250 ml can of a popular energy drink contains 80 mg of caffeine, while a 240ml can of another energy drink contains 19 grams of sugar and 77 mg of caffeine.
The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) currently limits the amount of caffeine in energy drinks sold here to about 80 milligrams for each 250 ml can, which is comparable to the amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee. Australia and New Zealand impose the same limit, while drinks in the United Kingdom with more than 150 milligrams of caffeine per litre must be labelled with the term "high caffeine content".
Responding to queries from 938LIVE, AVA said they check imported energy drinks regularly and all have complied with their standards and requirements thus far.
The Health Promotion Board runs a Healthy Meals in School programme in schools as well. Those on the programme can only sell commercially-prepared drinks that are labelled with the Healthier Choice Symbol - which is not on energy drinks. 938LIVE understands that most schools in Singapore are currently on the voluntary programme.
"I just kept on drinking it to stay awake because I really needed to finish the assignment," he said. "Basically everything was all right at first, then when I submitted my assignment, and I breathed in, I felt a bit of an ache.
"And I realised that I had difficulty in breathing. At first I thought I had a heart attack, but it wasn't one. I just had difficulty walking around and it felt like my heart was aching a lot."
That prompted him to cut his intake to one or two cans per month. But he believes the easy availability of these drinks and their aggressive promotion in tertiary institutions has influenced many of his friends. He thinks there should be regulations on how these drinks are promoted.
"Sometimes, it's promoted as a very fun drink, something that is very cool. Especially amongst some of my friends, some of the younger ones, they only drink it because they think it is cool. I wouldn't recommend that."
Ms Margaret Gan, who is a mother of two grown-up children, agreed. "Many of these young people are not aware of the risks. To them, it is just another drink. And I believe their parents are also not aware because I have seen parents buying them for these youngsters.
"These young people and their parents need to be educated. Information is important - there should be more publicity, more information about these drinks. Perhaps labels on these drinks to warn them."
Caffeine is not the only danger in such drinks. Dietitians are also concerned about the large amount of sugar in these drinks. Mount Alvernia Hospital dietician Janice Chong estimates there could be as much as 10 teaspoons of sugar in a can.
She cautioned that excessive consumption of such drinks could lead to a higher risk of developing chronic diseases like diabetes and result in excessive weight gain.
"It would be good if some sort of caution message is on the food label to advise the public to limit the intake of such drinks," she said. "And I think it would also be great if the food manufacturers can include not only the sugar content, but also the caffeine content in the food labels of these products."
There were 13 different types of energy drinks on sale at a supermarket when 938LIVE visited. The caffeine and sugar content were clearly labelled on most of them. For example, a 250 ml can of a popular energy drink contains 80 mg of caffeine, while a 240ml can of another energy drink contains 19 grams of sugar and 77 mg of caffeine.
The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) currently limits the amount of caffeine in energy drinks sold here to about 80 milligrams for each 250 ml can, which is comparable to the amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee. Australia and New Zealand impose the same limit, while drinks in the United Kingdom with more than 150 milligrams of caffeine per litre must be labelled with the term "high caffeine content".
Responding to queries from 938LIVE, AVA said they check imported energy drinks regularly and all have complied with their standards and requirements thus far.
The Health Promotion Board runs a Healthy Meals in School programme in schools as well. Those on the programme can only sell commercially-prepared drinks that are labelled with the Healthier Choice Symbol - which is not on energy drinks. 938LIVE understands that most schools in Singapore are currently on the voluntary programme.
